The microarray analysis core (MAC) is designed to advance aging-related research by providing state-of-the-art gene profiling from multiple tissue or cell types by DNA microarrays. The MAC will also provide data analyses for all array experiments. More detailed and custom analyses will be performed in a collaborative effort with another Nathan Shock Center Core. In addition to providing the Affymetrix commercial arrays the MAC will generate commercial arrays the MAC will generate custom cDNA and oligonucleotide arrays for investigators interested in probing gene arrays specific to selected biological systems of aging. These arrays will be compiled and made available to Nathan Shock investigators locally and regionally. The MAC will offer a full menu of services including tissue and/or cellular RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, cRNA labeling, target hybridization, probe array washing and staining, probe array scanning, array design and manufacturing, and data analysis. In addition to data generation, the MAC will work in conjunction with the Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core to develop a database containing experimental data generated by the MAC which will be made available for relational comparisons between studies conducted. The relational database will contain human and murine arrays and over the granting period should become extensive. Finally, the MAC will offer an array data validation function through a collaborative effort with the following Shock cores: Gene Expression Vector Core and the Molecular and Cellular Imaging Core. This linkage will provide real-time quantitative RT-PCR and in situ hybridization technologies to validate microarray data. The MAC will become an important component serving the aging research community at the University of Rochester and in Western New York.